Who's shooting 445 Supermag? ...any good with 44mag ammo?

[J A XSP]

I've had a couple of different barrels in the 445 chambering and now have an SSK carbine barrel that seems to shoot reasonably well (haven't really found any loads that are as accurate as a factory 14" hand-rechamber that I used to have).
I know that there must be a few guys out there who have shot this round in the past or are currently loading for it. I'm wondering whether anyone has had decent luck shooting regular 44 mag ammo in theirs?

I have a small amount of loaded 44 mag ammo and a ton of brass and bullets that I wouldn't mind loading up to keep on hand. I have a hundred or more rounds of good 445 brass to work with so no problem working up "real" loads but it would be pretty cool to be able to count on shooting both. I've read a few opinions pro and con here and there but does anyone have any specific experience with 44 mag brass in the 445 chamber?

[FyrepowrX]

I tried briefly in my .445 carbine, and in a a couple of pistol length barrels...those were a 10" factory, a 14" factory, and later a 14" stainless custom by MGM.

My factory .445 barrels were underwhelmed with regular .44's, and produced pretty mediocre groups, but in all honestly, i didnt try too hard since i had other factory .44's that shot a bit better.

The 20" .445 i pack around is a TC custom shop with the usual excessively long throat... found by seating 265's & 300's way out , it shot noticeably better. I always assumed since it was long for a .445 chamber, the stubby .44's just didnt cope well with the excessive jump & the long freebore....also found the light bullets shot to a very different POI, my barrel has no brake & with the full power loads it printed quite a lot higher even at close range with the increased muzzle flip.

That .445 was an accidental find at a gun show...it was one of the worst-fouled barrels i'd ever seen, and was filthy...always assumed someone had been trying to launch soft lead bullets at warp speed, and gave up on it when it no longer would keep them on a sheet of paper. I'm glad they did, after a whole lotta scrubbing, it shot great, once it got fed heavies seated out long.

Does your SSK barrel do well with 180-240 gr bullets? Always been intrigued with that thought....bet 200/240's at 2000fps+ would be a show stopped on critters.

[J A XSP]

I tried briefly in my .445 carbine, and in a a couple of pistol length barrels...those were a 10" factory, a 14" factory, and later a 14" stainless custom by MGM.

My factory .445 barrels were underwhelmed with regular .44's, and produced pretty mediocre groups, but in all honestly, i didnt try too hard since i had other factory .44's that shot a bit better.

The 20" .445 i pack around is a TC custom shop with the usual excessively long throat... found by seating 265's & 300's way out , it shot noticeably better. I always assumed since it was long for a .445 chamber, the stubby .44's just didnt cope well with the excessive jump & the long freebore....also found the light bullets shot to a very different POI, my barrel has no brake & with the full power loads it printed quite a lot higher even at close range with the increased muzzle flip.

That .445 was an accidental find at a gun show...it was one of the worst-fouled barrels i'd ever seen, and was filthy...always assumed someone had been trying to launch soft lead bullets at warp speed, and gave up on it when it no longer would keep them on a sheet of paper. I'm glad they did, after a whole lotta scrubbing, it shot great, once it got fed heavies seated out long.

Does your SSK barrel do well with 180-240 gr bullets? Always been intrigued with that thought....bet 200/240's at 2000fps+ would be a show stopped on critters.

thanks for the response, Gerald.

I used to have a 14" 44 mag barrel that was throated long like that. It was quite fine with 240s but when I seated 300 XTPs out to the second crimp groove, that thing was magic. It would hold MOA and better at 100 yards routinely. I'd have it still but my hands just can't really take enough hours of hard recoil to make a range session work. :)

When I got this 445 carbine barrel I was thinking that I'd get a 44 mag but SSK Haus of Arms had the 44 only in 18 inch and this 445 in 20". I'd prefer longer yet, but the 20 was more appealing to me and I've always liked the 445 so it was an easy sell. This one seems to be breaking in allright and it likes 240s just fine as long as they're XTPs. I think I tried some 180s but haven't found a load. It seems to shoot best with the 225 FTX bullets. I've worked on loads with slower rifle powder than is usually called for (H4198) and with a case packed full, it very accurate and seems to be a reasonable mid-range velocity for that chambering. I hope to do some chrony work with some of those loads. With 1680, the XTPs are quite accurate and I know the velocity is up there. That powder pushes the 225s along at a very brisk pace, as well. A snortful of H110 makes for quite snappy loads with any 240 grain bullet but I don't think I've found any loads with it that are particularly accurate in this barrel.

Regarding shooting the 44 mag in this barrel, I sort of just feel bad not having anything that'll allow me to use all the bullets and 44 mag brass that I have laying around and I like what that round does in a carbine length. I may try a few and see if I see anything that makes it worth the extra cleaning in chamber and throat area but I have a feeling that I'll end up looking for a 44mag carbine barrel just because. :) If you have an extra 44mag around gathering dust, let me know. :)

[FyrepowrX]

Like you, i also experimeted with slower than usual burn rate powders and found mine loved heavy bullets with Reloder7; i lost a few FPS but the sub-MOA groups more than made up for it. The older versions of the 265FTX and the 300 XTP's, both used to have 2 cannelures...i seated them in the bottom groove to gain case capacity. Last time i opened a box of 265's they went back to 1 cannelure though...not sure how many they have now, as i stashed back a couple hundred pcs years ago when i found that barrel liked them.

Dont remember how fast my 265gr loads were running, will try to bring that out next time the chrony is set up.

I had been wanting a 21" tapered carbine in .44mag for ages, about 2 years ago i finally found a barrel at auction, and won that one...i stuck a 4x with heavy duplex on it, though thinking about changing that to a 2x7. It shoots 240's pretty well.

i have not tried the 225 FTX yet...think i will do so, have had pretty good terminal performance with FTX's in other sizes.

[J A XSP]

Like you, i also experimeted with slower than usual burn rate powders and found mine loved heavy bullets with Reloder7; i lost a few FPS but the sub-MOA groups more than made up for it. The older versions of the 265FTX and the 300 XTP's, both used to have 2 cannelures...i seated them in the bottom groove to gain case capacity. Last time i opened a box of 265's they went back to 1 cannelure though...not sure how many they have now, as i stashed back a couple hundred pcs years ago when i found that barrel liked them.

Dont remember how fast my 265gr loads were running, will try to bring that out next time the chrony is set up.

I had been wanting a 21" tapered carbine in .44mag for ages, about 2 years ago i finally found a barrel at auction, and won that one...i stuck a 4x with heavy duplex on it, though thinking about changing that to a 2x7. It shoots 240's pretty well.

i have not tried the 225 FTX yet...think i will do so, have had pretty good terminal performance with FTX's in other sizes.

I sort of wish I'd hung on to my stash of 300 gr XTP bullets (pretty sure they ended up on your reloading bench, if I recall :) ). The 445 barrel I have is throated pretty standard but I can seat bullets out past the crimp groove and have a little extra capacity for the slower powder. Your Re7 is just about the same rate as my H-4198 but I bet it packs in the case a little better and more will fit. I'm planning to set up a chrony at my son's place when it cools off a little and checking the velocity of my best H4198/225 FTX loads. It'll be interesting to see what that stuff is doing. I like the notion of that 225 FTX bullet moving a little slower than the 445 is capable of but it may hold up quite well. I think the expansion velocity range is up to 2000 fps. At full potential speed in the 445, a close range shot on a big animal might be a little problematic in terms of explosive expansion but any reasonable yardage would probably make a terminal velocity right in the sweet spot. I caught them "on sale" and stocked up, so I'll keep loading them. :)

I just noticed that there's a 44 mag 24" in stock at EABCO...It's going to be really tempting to snag that. :D

[FyrepowrX]

Back a long time ago, i also played with the Sierra 250gr FPJ bullet...in 44mags they reminded me of hard cast bullets, but at .445supermag & .444Marlin speeds, they do expand without blowing up. The downside is that Sierra has gotten awfully proud of their pistol bullets, to the point i'm not experimenting with 'em as much. I guess in the big scheme of things, a hundred bullets goes a long way for hunting use, but there is still that "ouch" factor up front. (i also later tried the Sierra .357FPJ in my .357max carbine, and the .41FPJ in my .414 carbine...same good results.)

I've suspected CFE-Blk might be of use in the .445, with its density powder compression should not be an issue, and i also wanted to burn some Vihtavuori N120 in a .445 test run...problem is that i usually end up with more test projects than time.

Cant remember where i got this data; 445 data with parameters set to compute 1800fps loads with 240's....but N120 produced fairly low pressures in doing so. Wonder what it would yield when taken to higher pressures? Those loads do show N120 was just over 100% fill density, but the way you and i are seating 'em out way long, we might have a little more room to play. Too many barrels, so little time....

Deer probably aint gonna notice the difference either way, but this stuff is fun to play with.